I. FIRST, JAMES 4:13-15 GIVES AN EXAMPLE OF PEOPLE THAT MIGHT OFTEN BE GUILTY OF MAKING PLANS THAT DO NOT INCLUDE GOD IN THOSE PLANS.

1. Let’s read James 4:13, “13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

2. James is not condemning planning for the future. He is not condemning conducting business. James is not condemning making a profit. All business must make a profit. What James is condemning is the not having God in the plans that one makes relating to business.

3. The principle that James is warning about is something that could relate to planning a summer vacation and leaving God and attending services out of that summer vacation.

4. The principle that James is warning about could refer to going to school or college or any other activity and while doing it leave God out of those activities.

5. James 4:15 warns: 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

(1) James warns that we should show humility and a dependence on God. It is o.k. to plan for the future and plan to try and make a profit or try to have good success in whatever we are going to do.

(2) But as we try for a profit and success or to have an enjoyable vacation or a good year at school or college, it is mandatory that we have God and prayer as a part of our life everyday.

II. SECOND, JAMES 4:16 WARNS THAT IF WE GLORY AND BOAST IN WHAT WE DO AS IF WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED EVERYTHING ON OUR OWN THEN WE ARE GUILTY OF BEING EVIL.

1. Let’s read James 4:16, “16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

2. James is warning us to understand that if we should grow arrogant and self-sufficient, and think that we have a firm grasp on the future, that our over confidence will likely bring us grief. James is teaching that the person who boasts about what he will do tomorrow, may very well be inviting condemnation to himself.

3. Turn Luke 12:16-21. Here, Jesus gives a parable that shows the terrible end result of boasting and the thinking that one does not need God. Let’s read Luke 12:16-21, 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

4. The man in the parable shows an extremely worldly attitude and expressions of “I this” and “my that” over and over. He failed to thank God for his blessings. He talked as if he had grown and harvested the big crops all on his own!

At least 11 times in this short passage we find this arrogant man using either the word “I” or “my” as if his success was all on his own.

This arrogant man was selfish and did not think of sharing what God had blessed him with, with others. He did not understand Acts 20:35 which states, “It is more blessed to given than to receive.” This man was greedy and wanted to hang on to what he had, as long as he could.